Goblin Warrior

Mark went to the dungeon traders and sold the mana stones and skins for about 150 units. He had made a good earning today. However, he was still a little dejected at the fact that his goblin died.

"Sigh, I guess that's fine. I should spend some of my money to get a better monster marble. After I graduate, relying on a simple goblin alone will be tough," he thought. Even as he said that he still couldn't help but feel annoyed at the fact that he will have to train a monster all over again.

This was one of the things he disliked most when he first got his goblin from the market.

"I guess I will have to wait for a while before I add another monster to my slot," he thought. He walked straight back home and entered.

"Sister, I'm home," he said.

"Oh Mark, you are back? I'm hungry, can you get something for me?" his sister said from the next room over.

He walked to the living room and found his sister watching kid's cartoons on the TV again. "Did you watch TV all day?" he asked.

"Yeah, and I forgot to eat because of that. Can you get me some food?" she asked.

"Sigh, alright. Just wait here," he said and went to the kitchen.

He quickly prepared something good for himself and his sister and brought it over to the TV room. They ate quietly while his sister kept on watching the TV. Most people would be worried about the health issues of people who sat around watching TV all day, but Mark wasn't.

He took the empty dishes and washed them before preparing his dinner. After the dinner was ready, he went back to his room to change his clothes.

"I guess my slot is empty now, right?" he wondered. He opened the status page to see.

———————————

[Status:

Name: Mark Grier

Age: 17

Level: 1 (3%)

Monster Slots Available:1

Monster Slots Used: 0

Slot 1: EMPTY

Skills: Locked

Inventory: Locked

]

———————

"As I thought, it's empty now." He proceeded to close the hovering blue screen, but just as he was about to, something else caught his eyes.

"3%? What 3%?" for a second he didn't realize what he was seeing. "Wait, THREE PERCENT? Huh? What? When did I get experience?"

He tried to recall the whole day but couldn't remember the one time he found any of the monsters. "I'm sure I didn't fight even once, then why is my experien— " suddenly, something clicked.

"The boss's attack?" he wondered. The one time he could have said to have interacted with any monster in the dungeon was when the boss accidentally attacked his goblin and killed it.

"That counts?" he wondered. "I guess it does. It should be the same as monsters defending, so the dungeon thought I was part of the party too. Either way, this is a good thing. I can be happy now," he thought.

He took out the 10 new goblin marbles he had acquired today. "I guess now that I have this many, I should sell them for a few units," he thought.

"Mark, I'm hungry again," his sister shouted from the other room.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming." He quickly put the marbles back into the storage ring and changed his clothes before walking back to the kitchen. He served the still-hot dinner and ate it together with his sister.

"Fooo Foooo," he kept on blowing his hot food to cool it before eating it. But when he saw his sister simply gulping down the food without worry, he just shook his head.

After finishing his dinner, he put his sister to bed before walking back to his room. "Oh, I left it right here?" he said as he looked at the ring on the bed.

"I should put the other goblin marbles back on my ring too, just in case I forget to take them tomorrow to sell with me," he thought and approached his desk. He opened the drawer and took the black box out.

Once again, Mark felt like the entire room had dimmed once more. He opened the box to take out the 10 goblin marbles inside— but there was only 1 marble in the box. "Huh? Where did my marbles go?" he got surprised.

"Did I take them out? No, I don't remember doing that. Then my sister? I doubt she would care about my room. A thief then? But they shouldn't be able to enter the room while the sister is in the house. Then what?" He was frustrated.

While goblin marbles weren't worth a lot, they were still a few unit's worths, and he needed all the money he could get right now. After a few minutes of frantic searching, he gave up and accepted the fact that 9 of his goblin marbles had disappeared.

"At least you are here," he thought as he picked the only remaining goblin marble from the middle of the black box. "Sigh" he was about to put the marble into his ring when he noticed something unusual. The small miniature version of the goblin on the inside of the marble was a little different than the one he was used to seeing on a daily basis.

"Hmm… what's wrong with this? A defect?" he wondered. He held it with his two fingers and put it near the light bulb. At first, he only saw that it was a little different from regular goblins, but didn't see much difference.

But as he kept on looking, he realized something. The goblin was completely different from the normal goblins. It was a little wider in build, had more muscles, on it and a surprisingly well-defined face. Not something a normal goblin could have.

"Wait a second, is it?" he said out loud as he looked at the marble once more. He didn't recognize it at first because it didn't have its signature rusted sword with it, but…

"This is a Goblin Warrior. I'm sure of it," he said as he looked at it. The more he looked at it, the more he was sure of it.

"But, I'm sure that none of the monster's marbles belonged to a goblin warrior, then how?" he wondered. He thought for a while, but the only answer he could come up with was the obvious one.

It was the black box's doing. The day 9 of his normal goblin marbles disappeared, a Goblin warrior marble appeared in it. This was too much of a coincidence to actually be one. And given the circumstances under which he acquired the black box, he didn't doubt anything it could do.

"If what I am thinking of is true, then…" his eyes started shining and a grin appeared on his face. His ever so bleak future had a light shinning far away now.